suzy meets the kitchen

it's the first thing you discover when you realize that you can either

a) eat ramen and frozen food for the rest of your life,
b) go out to eat every single night and be poor, or
c) start cooking.

you go into that kitchen, and you look around, and you realize that you have no idea what you need, and even less idea of what you have.

so, if you're like me, you start by picking recipes at random and substituting one kitchen implement for another when you run into a problem. for an example: i have been seriously attempting to cook for close to seven months now, and i still don't have a grater. i chop all things that need grating--cheese, garlic, whatever. it gets chopped.

on the plus side, i did buy myself a set of three nice knives. those, i've found, make all the difference.

so what is this cook-in-training's arsenal?

i have

• a largish non-stick pot (how sad, i don't even know how many quarts it holds)
• a smallish once non-stick pan
• a giant baking pan (think your grandmother's lasagna)
• a small brownie pan

and that's pretty much it, aside from some utensils like measuring cups (of which somehow i only have a full cup and a half cup), measuring spoons, a potato peeler, and a cutting board.

and yet, if there's one thing i've learned, it's that with a lot of patience and a big sense of humor, you can make just about anything with just about nothing.

introducing suzy

once upon a time, i was your average female twenty-something -- single, bitter, unfulfilled, over-worked, college graduate with a useless degree. or at least, that's how it felt. of course, it wasn't all bad. every now and then there would be those rare moments: recognition from the boss, a good date for once, the right outfit (finally!), the perfect apple turnover and chai. but for the most part, things were... well, blah.

know what i mean?

and now? well, i'm still an over-worked college graduate with a useless degree. but i've managed to lose the bitter and unfulfilled, and replace them with married and happy, over-tasked, under-budgeted, and plain going bonkers trying to keep it together.

and that's what this blog is about. i know there are others out there in the same boat--never thought you'd be married, never imagined the tribulations of budgeting, not sure how to go about making a home, and MOST OF ALL: no idea how to cook.

next post: stay tuned for "suzy meets a kitchen"